Dealing with disaster

So this morning was spent working out how to conceal my printing mistake that happened on tuesday. I found some curtain tape in a box of scraps that I thought I could use in place of some cotton tape.

Fiona and I spent some time fiddling about with it to see how we could conceal it, whilst turning it into a feature.

There was this option of turning it into a tie in some way, but I wasn't keen on the shapes it made, and I thought it would restrict movement which I thought would be impractical.

I had the idea of creating loops in the tape so that tools could be hung from it like I shown above. But in the end I went with Will's suggestion that I turn the mistake into a feature, as it looked a bit like soil, and turn it into a 'soil' border that frames the print around the top and bottom edge.

Screen printing

When I came in today my screen was ready to print with - Yay!

I was pretty nervous about printing though, as I will be printing straight onto my finished garment, so there is no going back if I made a mistake. So I printed on a few separate pieces of calico before I took the plunge, these will also give me an opportunity to practise painting with my procion dyes onto the screen printed areas.

This is the result of the screen print, which I'm really happy with. I then went onto to bite the bullet and print directly onto the print. This was quite tricky, as the pleats in the fabric at the top of the skirt made it difficult to keep the screen close to the fabric. This resulted in two of the prints coming out with thicker lines and some smudges. To solve this problem I have decided to hand embroider these two prints to give them better definition.

I also had a bit of a print disaster on the print to the middle of the skirt. I forgot to retape up the edges of screen after cleaning it in between prints and so I am left with a splodge at the top. I'm thinking of a way I can cover it or conceal it. maybe with a another pocket or some sort of cotton tape or ribbon?

Floral image transfer

During my initial research I came across a method used to transfer the natural colour in flowers and leaves onto fabric. You can find a tutorial here if you are interested on trying out the process yourself.

In the tutorial they used violas which gave quite an effective result, so since I have them growing on my allotment I thought that I would try with them to start with.

As you can see, the results can be a bit hit and miss, if you'll excuse the pun.

This is with verbena and forget-me-not flowers. I was expecting the forget-me-nots to come out really bright blue, but they came out a bit smudgy, the verbena came out well though.

These are rocket leaves and flowers. The leaves came out well because they are an interesting shape but the flowers just turned out like yellow blobs. I think it was because they are quite delicate.

My top tips for using this process is to choose flowers that are quite flat in shape and that are not too delicate to handle. The flowers turn out best if they are placed face down on the fabric. It is important to use a light coloured natural fabric and flowers with strong colours to get a clear crisp effect.

Although I would use this process again, I don't think I will be using this process on my final outcome as the results are varied. I think it would work best to try lots of flowers and then cut them out and appliqué them onto your finished textile work. That way you can be more selective and only use the best results.

Module Review Day!

Yesterday was module review day with Charlie. We are given a form on which we have to appraise our progress in relation to the module learning outcomes outlined in our module guide. So this gave me, or rather made me, re-read the module guide - which was good because it has helped my to remember the whole point of this module (Fashion & Textiles Development)!

Just so you know what I'm talking about I'll write them down here:

1. Carry out a wide ranging theoretical and practical investigation into traditional and unusual media, materials and processes.

2. Analyse, identify and present the potential and limitations of media for creating ideas and developing solutions.

3. Investigate the work of a range of practitioners who have worked in related media.

4. Understand and exploit the potential and limitations of selected media and materials in their own work.

So how am I doing...?

I think that I am working my way through number 1 alright with the different processes I have used so far. I still have to explore some natural dyes I could use that will fit with my colour palette. Perhaps I need to look further into some more unusual processes?

I think I am tackling number 2 by writing this blog.

Number 3 I can do via this blog too, but need to do a bit more research on other practitioners.

re-reading number 4, I'm not sure what context 'their' is in, (must remember to ask Charlie!)

My module review went well, Charlie seemed really happy with my progress so far. We also talked about whether I'm sticking to my original project statement, which for the most part I am. The only thing that I think has really changed is "I will be using natural fabrics and yarn like wool and cotton". Yes, I have been using natural textiles in my work, but I have also found it necessary to incorporate man-made fabrics and yarn - for cost purposes, availability of second-hand/recycled materials, and the limitation of sticking to my colour palette. (See, this is me being reflective!)

My action plan is to:

• Draw out design ideas
• Explore potentional of mono printing
• Continue to consider possibilities in terms of fashion
• Add drawings into sketch book to support sample development

In a bid to extend experimentation of printed samples, I tried using a method that Fiona suggested last week. Again-using the back of the rag rug sample as inspiration. I created a couple of rows of 'bobbles' using some wadding, fabric and elastic bands, this was then taped to a piece of sturdy cardboard to create a kind of stamp.

To be honest, I'm not really that sure about the result.

Next up was a pom-pom like bath sponge that I got in a bath stuff gift for christmas.

I really love the imprint that it makes on the paper, it really looks very pom-pom like!

It also reminds me of oriental style chrysanthemum prints